The Reaper's Vines
by nooneushudknow
Summary: Lancelot comes back from the dead but can't remember anything, even his own name. In order to retrieve his memory back, he and the Knights must search for the Grim Reaper. Will they find him before time runs out?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Awoken by a shock throughout his body, his eyes snapped open and gazed upon the stars above him. After a long moment of lying on the ground, he finally restored himself and rolled over in order to get himself up. He struggled to lift himself from the hard ground beneath him as he used his other bit of remaining effort to find his consciousness. When his feet were the only part of his body touching the ground, he lazily looked around him to get a glimpse of what was around him. For some reason, the back of his brain was recognizing this place. The constant sounds of various distinct animals from the distance, the crunch with every step from the leaves and branches from the ground, the trees scarred from various sword cuts and arrows, the scent of bark and berries that made the wood almost relaxing, he had all the pieces but couldn't connect them correctly. As he started drowning in his own thoughts, the sudden noise of screaming came from behind him. He swerved around and began running in that direction, afraid that one of his people were being harmed.

His? He abruptly stopped himself, causing him to almost trip on his own feet. How can he think of such a thing when he wasn't even sure who he was? Then an even more important question came to him: can the person who just screamed possibly be related to his past life? Before he could even consider an answer, the scream repeated again, except it was more terrifying than the previous one. He ran even faster, his toes barely touching the ground, as he avoided large branches and trees in his path.

He finally caught up to a young woman, frantically waving a torch in front of her, as if trying to ward off a beast on the verge of attacking of her. But all he was focusing on was how beautiful the woman was. Her eyes danced underneath the torch light, and her dark brown hair flowed perfectly along her back. He finally pulled himself together when he realized that there was an admittingly, good-looking man standing only a few feet ahead of her.

"Gwen, Gwen, it's only me, Gwen." She still continued to whisk the torch around.

Before he could think twice, he asked, "Gwaine?"

The man turned instantly and gave him a huge smile.

"Lancelot! The person I need! As you can see, I am having quite a bit of trouble convincing the lovely queen that there is nothing to worry about."

Lancelot? Was he talking to him?

Before he could understand what was going on, Gwaine turned to face Gwen once again and called, "We are just a couple of dead spirits from the otherworld, it is all fine!"

This only made her scream again.

"Well you are great at explaining."

"Why thank you," he replied with his huge smile.

Lancelot decided to take his turn and try to convince the queen that she was safe.

"Gwen, it's us, the Knights of Camelot." Whenever he didn't think about what to say, he spilled out words that only helped snap the scattered pieces in his head together.

Finally, the queen stopped and stared straight into his eyes. He couldn't resist but to stare back, wondering how a woman can have such endearing eyes.

Her voice shook as she attempted to speak normally, "Gwaine, Lancelot? Is, is that really you?"

Gwaine stepped in, "Oh, it's only what I've been trying to tell you for the last several hours."

Lancelot shot an evil glare at Gwaine, which made him step back a bit.

"Yes, it is. Why don't we go back to the castle?"

As the trio entered the door to the royal room, looks of worry and concern turned to a mix of what seemed to be of relief and skepticism. One of the knights (who seemed to be old compared to the rest of them) pushed through the other ones from the round table. He appeared to be on the verge of passing out at any given moment.

"Your Highness!" He breathed in anticipation. "We have been looking for you everywhere! I knew we should have sent 20 of the knights with you!"

"Leon, I'm perfectly fine. See? I'm here and there are no injuries. I just became a bit frightened and scared the horse away."

Gwaine snickered.

"Well as long as you are fine, I guess there is nothing to worry about. And I see you have found some spirits on the way to the meadow."

Through her tanned skin, a faded blush appeared and she hung her head low. "Yes," she whispered.

Leon looked at her with concern. "Your Highness, I have warned you before what tonight was. Have you already forgotten about Samhain?"

She still ignored his gaze and looked around the room hesitantly.

The largest and strongest looking knight at the round table suddenly interrupted and asked, "Are spirits huggable?"

Everyone glanced at the massive giant, who seemed to be at a mind in his own.

"Umm, Percy? I don't think that's really–"

Before Leon could even end his sentence Percy leaped onto Gwaine and was sobbing over his shoulder. Everyone in the room nodded in approval, knowing the connection between Percy and Gwaine.

"Now going back on topic–"

Again, Leon was interrupted by the sudden banging of metal armor as a slim, young man tripped into the room and landed with a bang as everything he held slid across the room in all different directions. But as soon as it happened he got back on his feet and muttered something under his breath. Lancelot thought that he must have been cursing to himself, but then the man's eyes flickered into a bright gold and soon the armor was lifted off the ground instantly and was placed neatly on the round table. Following behind him was an elder who looked very wise but had his eyebrows raise, which was a bit intimidating.

"I'm sorry I'm late," he replied, "getting everything cleaned as you asked."

Gwen spoke up this time, "I swear Merlin you are getting clumsier each day, if only Arthur were here to shape you up a bit more."

A mournful silence followed. Lancelot looked around, trying to place the name. He seemed like a very important man. As much as he tried, he couldn't even recognize his name unlike the others. So he decided to ask out loud, "Who is Arthur?"

The table turned shockingly around at Lancelot. Was there something he said that was wrong?

Merlin started, "How can you not remember Arthur? He was the person you served for and yet you can't even–"

The old man raised a hand and Merlin immediately stopped. "Though it is unusual for a spirit to forget about his past life, there is a possible explanation why this can be."

Everyone gazed upon him with patience. "It is possible that he has been attacked by the Grim Reaper."

"A reaper?" Merlin questioned. "I thought those only separated spirits from the human world."

"Yes, they do, but we are talking about the GRIM reaper, who is unlike your regular reaper. It feeds on memories and will do anything in order to obtain them, which can be very dangerous for spirits."

"But I don't understand," Gwen piped up, "how come it is so dangerous if spirits are already 'dead' anyway?"

"Well for spirits, memories are the key in order to pass the gate between both worlds. With the amount of emotion the spirit has gone through, they are able to unlock the door and enter the otherworld."

"So why is it so important to pass through, can't they stay in the human world?"

"That is the problem, spirits will disintegrate under the sunlight and will never come to exist again, that is why Samhain is at night, so the spirits can freely communicate with the human world without worrying about the sun."

"So how exactly do we make sure Lancelot gets his memories back?" Percy asked.

"Well, we just need to catch the grim reaper and obtain its scythe, and in order to do this, we need to use all the knights, and you must find the Grim Reaper before sun rise. Will you all be willing to do this all for Lancelot?" Gaius questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Well why wouldn't we?" Gwaine said, hanging his arm around Lancelot's shoulders, "I mean he is our friend."

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

Gwen then raised her voice as well as a goblet of wine in her hand, "For Lancelot, so he may live happily in the otherworld."

"CHEERS!"

Soon the round table was filled with giddy men as they told funny stories and laughed heartily. At one point Gwaine even had wine shoot out of his nose, which made everyone laugh even harder. Lancelot couldn't help but to smile as he glanced around the table, knowing that these the people who he had to deal with back then.

**A/N:** So this was my first fanfiction ever. The original one needed a bit of polishing, so here's the final product. I would like to thank Moonfox, MagicGirl41, and TheDragonRider for beta'ing, supporting, and proving a book cover for this fanfiction. I couldn't have done it without you!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"I think it is best if we stop here for a break." Leon advised.

"Well, it looks like someone finally grew a brain." Gwaine muttered under his breath.

Lancelot wondered how Leon could take Gwaine's constant complaining.

"So where exactly ARE we going?" Percy questioned.

"Well," Merlin began, "If I remember, Gauis said that the grim reaper should be in the town of Hallowest."

Lancelot shivered, "That's not a very pleasant name."

"I know." Merlin leaned toward Lancelot. "I heard it's supposed to be the birth place of many ghosts."

"Okay everyone, it's time to move on." Leon announced.

Lancelot quickly turned back to Merlin, "Maybe there will be dead bodies walking around."

They both snickered quietly.

"Gwaine, we must be there before sunrise!" Leon ordered to the motionless body on the ground.

Gwaine moaned as he attempted to push himself off the ground. "I'm dead and I still can't walk faster than a mule...and can someone explain to me why we couldn't just ride the horses?"

"Because animals sense spirits and it doesn't get too pretty if someone like you attempted to ride one like a horse." Leon stated flatly.

Gwaine joked, "Then are you willing to carry me?"

"You have legs, Gwaine, why don't you-"

Leon's words got cut off when Percy swept and grabbed Gwaine by the stomach and hung him over his shoulder like a ragdoll.

"I guess I don't need to use those "legs" now, do I?" Gwaine called. Lancelot couldn't help but to laugh to himself.

A long period of silence followed afterwards as the team maneuvered around trees and barely avoided branches under the feet, with only the moonlight to help lead them down the path.

Suddenly Merlin hissed, "Hey, over here!" He pointed to a wide, dead tree. The branches of the tree twisted around each other, with not even a straight twig in sight. The leaves were of a burnt black, as if someone had decided to light a fire on the leaves rather than the tree itself. Its trunk was of a twisted form, which created an open hole in the tree big enough for a grown man to crawl through.

"Merlin, are you sure this is it?" Leon asked doubtfully.

"Just trust me on this," he replied with a thin smile, his crystal white teeth barely visible.

He then turned to the tree directly, and slowly raised his hand so that his palm was parallel to the trunk of the sickly tree.

His eyes flickered with gold, as he chanted spells that Lancelot couldn't make out.

The leaves started to whirl in a tornado of darkness around the delicate tree; deformed branches began straightening themselves and started plunging into the dark soil beneath it. The wind around the tree became stronger as the leaves spiraled more rapidly with each rotation. The branches were uncontrollable as they randomly shot into the ground without any warning. Everyone stepped back, afraid to get caught in the massive storm of what they could only see as chaos.

Finally, the leaves slid themselves into the gap in the tree, forming a perfect black hallow in the middle of the trunk. Everyone stood in their place, hesitant to move any closer to the horrific plant a few feet ahead of them.

"What are you all waiting for? We have to go!" Merlin said as he slipped through the black hole.

Gwaine sighed, "What's next... flesh-eating flowers?"

"Ouch!" Merlin yelped.

"Sorry, couldn't move any slower." Gwaine replied.

At the bottom of the pit was a bundle of rough, sharp leaves that didn't make landing anymore comfortable.

"Which direction are we supposed to be going?" Lancelot asked immediately, glancing around to reassure himself that nothing else would come out of nowhere.

"Over there." Leon pointed to a small town that was constructed of mud houses. The only source of light was an occasional torch that would show to guide a person's feet to the right place. Other than that, darkness was clouded over the town with nothing to see beyond one house.

The team trudged to the small town, taking note of what they were stepping on. As they approached one of the houses, a shimmering aurora glided towards them. As it got closer, Lancelot realized that it was actually the ghost of a young girl who looked tired and weary.

In a serene voice, she asked, "May I help you?"

Lancelot couldn't help but to pity her.

"Yes, we are looking for the Grim Reaper." Leon responded.

The girl only stared back in sympathy. "He is up there, on that cabin up on the hill."

"Well, thank you young miss," Leon said politely.

The team continued to travel down the dim path. Lancelot thought about the ghost and how lonely she looked. What did the girl deserve to be living a life in an abandoned town like this?

Before Lancelot could come with a conclusion, Merlin stopped everyone in front of the hill.

"What is it Merlin?" Percy asked.

"It's this path, I don't think we should take it."

"Well are there any other paths we can take?"

Merlin sighed heavily, "No, but this path wouldn't make it any easier."

They all started hiking up the hill uneasily, carefully observing everything around them. After a couple minutes of walking, everyone decided that there was nothing to worry about. As they reached the top of the hill, Lancelot noticed a pumpkin. It was a regular looking pumpkin, but it was lit up and a face seemed to be carved into the front to make it appear quite creepy.

Gwaine couldn't help but pipe up. "Ooohhh, Merlin, look at that pumpkin, the way it lights is so SPOOKY."

Merlin blushed but didn't respond at all.

Gwaine decided to take a stroll around the pumpkin, but out of nowhere, a vine lifted from the ground and grabbed Gwaine by the ankle and pulled him upwards.

"GWAINE!" Everyone screamed in terror.

"I'm mistaken Merlin, I think I underestimated a bit." Gwaine smiled.

More vines bursted out of the ground in a frenzy as everyone ran in the opposite direction. Finally all the vines were lifted off the ground and connected to the pumpkin at its bottom. The vines tightly attached to each other and formed a gigantic body with the pumpkin as its head.

"What, on earth, is that?" Lancelot questioned.

"Well if I remembered correctly, Gauis told me that we would come across him." Merlin replied.

"Him?" Percy looked a bit skeptical.

"Yes, and his name is Stingy Jack. I don't think I need to explain why."

"The only question I would ask is why that THING is a male." Lancelot said.

The vines snatched at feet, trying to find its next victim. Lancelot struggled to keep up with the flying shrubs. Once in a while he would glance around for something that would at least distract the creature from attacking anyone else.

As Lancelot swerved around, one of the vines hit him on his chest and flung him across the flat ground. He rolled to the edge of the hill, on the verge of tumbling off. He slowly lifted himself up as a shock of pain rang through his left shoulder.

He watched the disaster that was going on a hundred feet ahead of him. Merlin's eyes turned gold as a strike of lightning came out of his hands. Leon had his sword pulled out and swung it gracefully but wildly at the vicious plant. Even Percy was barely dodging the beast as he attempted to over throw the massive trunks. As Lancelot observed the effort everyone made to weaken the beast, he stepped backwards and slipped over a branch at his feet, landing painfully on his back. He groaned, and looked over at the stick that he clumsily tripped over.

A feeling of realization shot through his body. This stick was perfect, with a rough handle, a sharp tip and a thick body that was able to pierce any living creature.

He picked it up and held the giant stick in his hands, looking upon it in awe. He then lifted his head up, watching his friends struggle to keep up with the massive plant. He adjusted the stick in his hands and started towards the monstrous plant once again. As he approached the chaos, he stopped in his tracks and aimed the stick at the pumpkin that sat on top of the giant, smiling down at everything that was going on below. He tightened his hands around the stick and lifted his arms behind his head slowly, taking caution of the beast's sudden movements. As soon as he locked on to the monster, he thrusted the pointed trunk as hard as he could and watched as the stick landed right through the skull of Stingy Jack.

The vines untangled and fell from place, landing with a thud on the dead grass below. Soon afterwards, Gwaine came tumbling with the vines and landed heavily on his face.

"Lancelot, that was... amazing!" Leon praised.

"I have to admit, that was something I could have never done myself." Merlin said, stretching his back to reassure that all of his bones were in place.

"I appreciate that all of you are thanking Lancelot for his heroic actions, but can you take a few minutes to help the poor man under the vines up?" Gwaine insisted.

"Oh, sorry." Percy apologized and without any effort, lifted Gwaine from under the heavy vines.

"That was very unusual," Leon said, "I guess we have to see what is going to come next."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"So I'm guessing this is it," Merlin said as Gwaine gulped anxiously behind him.

The old cabin the girl was talking about didn't seem like a cabin at all. If anything, it was the size of a large outhouse. The team hesitantly stepped forward, waiting for the unexpected to stab them in their backs. When nothing happened, they all slid a few more steps until Percy reached the door. He opened the door ajar to make sure that it was all clear, but just when he was about to step inside, a dark phantom rose from the cabin and stood in front of the clustered group of frozen knights.

It was a terrifying thing, more terrifying than what Lancelot had imagined. Its face was a skull, and in fact, its whole body was made of bones. A torn black robe wrapped around the skeleton and gave it a mysterious appearance, but the one factor that threw Lancelot off was its scythe. It was black and shimmered underneath the moonlight as the reaper floated in place, giving an empty stare at the knights a couple feet from him.

"Helloooo?" Gwaine asked playfully. "Anyone in there?"

The reaper didn't budge.

"If you forgot already, you stole my friend's memories, so if you may kindly give them back."

The dark figure still didn't budge.

"Do you even know what you're doing?" Merlin muttered to Gwaine.

Gwaine muttered back, "Yes, of course, he was just about to give—"

The reaper shot at Gwaine, cutting off his sentence and knocking him a few yards backwards.

"Not again!" Merlin remarked.

The reaper attacked again, this time aiming for Merlin. Merlin spotted it and dodged just in time to avoid the reaper's bony fists. The reaper quickly changed its target; as soon as it would attack, it would find someone else to hunt. Unlike Jack, Grim never kept anyone out of sight. Whenever Lancelot tried to sneak away, the reaper would only attack from behind, keeping him on his toes.

What were some possibilities to catch it off-guard, Lancelot thought. Maybe the branch strategy again? No, this reaper was a living skeleton; the best it would do is pierce in between its bones. He needed a better idea, but he couldn't come up with anything. He did a quick scan of his surroundings. Before he had the chance to make a complete thought, the reaper was already on him. Lancelot barely missed as he leaped aside from the reaper's reach. He tumbled across the ground and quickly got up on his feet as soon as he stopped rolling. He glanced over to where the reaper attacked and found him stuck on a strand of vine coming from below him. Lancelot blinked and tried to believe what he was seeing. Suddenly, an idea snapped in his mind.

"Merlin," Lancelot whispered as he tried his best to avoid the reaper's attention. "I have an idea."

"And you couldn't come up with something awhile ago, why?" Merlin interrogated.

"Because then I would have being lying. Just listen to me."

Lancelot explained the plan to Merlin.

Lancelot explained the plan to Merlin, who frowned once he was finished. "I sure hope this is actually going to work," he told the knight.

"It's going to work, trust me."

Lancelot and Merlin split up and circled the reaper in different directions as the rest of the knights kept fighting off the Grim. As everyone else was avoiding the reaper's rapid movements, Merlin began shooting fire at the Grim, but to no avail. All the knights, including the reaper, seemed quite surprised at Merlin's failed attempt. The knights were disappointed that even Merlin's famous fireball attack didn't work. As everyone was still in shock, the Grim was the first to react and rushed towards Merlin. When the Grim was only a few feet away from him, he quickly unwrapped the neckerchief from his neck and started to chant in the tongue of the Old Religion. As soon as he finished, the neckerchief expanded to a size so large that it would have been able to wrap around a whole carriage." The reaper was caught in the large fabric and was launched back in the air.

On the other side, Lancelot was quickly digging up vines from the ground and tying them up together. To make sure everything was going as planned, Lancelot glanced over his shoulder and found Merlin shooting fire balls from his hands. He returned his attention to what he was doing and soon created a green net of vines. All of a sudden, he heard Merlin enchant a spell which made Lancelot jump a little bit.

Lancelot carried the net over his shoulders. Surprisingly, it was heavier than what Lancelot expected. When he saw Merlin launch the reaper into the air with his magically enlarged neckerchief, he bent his knees slowly and waited patiently for the figure to come closer. He finally lifted his knees as hard as he could and pushed the net towards the flying skeleton with all his strength. The massive net embraced around the bony body and yanked it down onto the dead grass.

Merlin and Lancelot shared a reassuring smile.

"Now that's what I call teamwork," Merlin smiled.

"I got this." Percy lazily lifted the net and opened it up so the limb body of the reaper appeared.

Lancelot slowly leaned forward, careful not to touch the skeleton and took the scythe from behind its back. He pulled the scythe upwards and held it in his hands, expecting everything to flood back to him.

Nothing happened. Lancelot paused and waited once again for something to happen. Still, it was in the same condition.

A wave of disappointment flooded over him. He went all through this for nothing? He held the scythe in front of him and hung his head. What was going to happen now? Would he never go back to the spirit world? Would he disinigrate into thin air as the glimpse of sun would appear? And most importantly, would he never know who he was?

"Lancelot, I don't think that's the scythe Gaius was talking about." He nodded his head towards the tangled body of the Grim.

Lancelot was shocked to find that next to the body were vines that curled into a crescent shape. He dropped the weapon in his hands and walked towards the green moon in front of him. Lancelot bent down to touch it but was instantly burned.

"Wow... I, I got to admit, that was pretty freaking cool." Everyone swerved to the voice and was relieved to find Gwaine slugging his way towards the team.

"Can someone please get him up from his knees?" Leon ordered impatiently while rolling his eyes. He then turned back to Lancelot. "So, are you going to do it or what?"

Lancelot heaved a heavy sighed and grabbed the vines in his hands. He closed his eyes and soon his whole body was filled with warmth. As he started to cool off a bit, he opened his eyes and turned to Merlin.

"You know, you didn't have to use your neckerchief. I just wanted you to bring it towards me somehow."

Merlin shrugged. "Well, it was the least I can do."

Lancelot and Gwaine stopped in front of the rounded gate and turned towards the team behind them.

"Well, wasn't that fun?" Gwaine exclaimed.

"If you consider having Percy carry you half of the way here while you were singing about Merlin's neckerchief fun, then yes it certainly was." Leon frowned.

Percy scratched his back. "It really wasn't a big deal. And will I get to see you soon?" he asked Gwaine, his smile dropping.

"Of course, old buddy. I can try to visit."

"Next time, just keep yourself AWAY from the taverns before we decide to go somewhere," Leon advised. Everyone laughed as Gwaine gave puppy dog eyes to Leon.

Merlin said to Lancelot, "You know, I really don't think I can wait another year."

Lancelot smiled. "Neither can I, but for now, we must go. The sun should be coming soon."

The knights all gave their final goodbyes as Gwaine and Lancelot turned to go through the gate. Just as they were about to walk through, the young girl they had met in Hallowest sprinted towards them, panting heavily. Gwaine and Lancelot looked at each other in confusion and stared down at the tiny girl in front of them. She placed her hands on her knees in order to catch her breath.

"My people wanted to thank you for the deed you have done," she said breathlessly. "As a gift, they wanted to give you this so you would always remember us."

She kneeled down on one knee and raised a single vine over her head.

"Please accept this gift."

Lancelot and Gwaine hesitated and only stared at the girl. After a few moments, Lancelot reached out and grabbed the single vine in her hands.

"We will treasure it forever," he told the girl.

She smiled and started to take off.

"Wait!" Lancelot called to her.

She turned around to face him.

"What exactly is this?" he called.

She replied, "It's the Reaper's Vines. It is part of the tree that protects us from the Grim Reaper."

She finally ran off into the woods until there was nothing to see of her.

"Hmm, isn't that a bit ironic," Gwaine stated.

"I guess, but either way, I want to keep it, so I can remember today." Lancelot tied the vine around his wrist and faced Gwaine.

"So are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Gwaine grinned.

As they both stepped into the gate, Lancelot turned around and stared into the woods.

"Umm, Lancelot, is there something wrong?" Gwaine asked in concern.

"I thought that girl was a ghost when we saw her the first time," Lancelot replied.

Gwaine shook his head, "It was probably just hallucinations."

"I suppose." Lancelot gazed with wonder and turned around once more.

They slipped into the opening and soon disappeared into the darkness surrounding it.

_The end_

**A/N -** For this chapter, I'd like to thank CaptainOzone for beta'ing. I would also like to thank caldera32 and her "Neckerchief Chronicles" for inspiring me to write the last chapter. Thanks y'all for your support!


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